Ukrainian investigation focuses on Turkcell/Astelit

Details of the Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee (AMCU)  investigation into the merger of market leading cellco Kyivstar with Russia’s Vimpelcom have emerged, focusing on information on Russian Alfa Group’s stake in Ukrainian cellco Astelit – ironically the operator that filed the petition that prompted the inquiry, TeleGeography CommsUpdate reports.

The AMCU accused Alfa’s telecoms investment division Altimo of providing incomplete information on its Ukrainian holdings, but the committee now has opened a new line of investigation into two other Alfa Group companies: Crown Finance Foundation and CTF Holdings. The new line of investigation began after it received documents showing Alfa had raised its stake in Astelit via Turkish parent Turkcell without notification.

As quoted by Reuters, the AMCU stated that “those documents show that [associated companies of] Alfa Group will control 73 percent of [Ukraine’s] GSM-900 bandwidth and 68 percent of GSM-1800 bandwidth.”

Previously the AMCU said the newly formed entity Vimpelcom Ltd held respective 54 percent  and 50 percent shares of GSM-900 and GSM-1800 spectrum in Ukraine.